New York-Northern New Jersey-Long Island, NY-NJ-PA MSA

The New York metropolitan area, also commonly referred to as the Tri-State area, is the largest metropolitan area in the world by urban landmass, at , and one of the most populous urban agglomerations in the world. The vast metropolitan area includes New York City, Long Island, the Mid and Lower Hudson Valley in the State of New York; the six largest cities in New Jersey: Newark, Jersey City, Paterson, Elizabeth, Lakewood, and Edison, and their vicinities; and six of the seven largest cities in Connecticut: Bridgeport, Stamford, New Haven, Waterbury, Norwalk, and Danbury, and the vicinities of these cities. The New York metropolitan area comprises the geographic and demographic hub of the larger Northeast megalopolis.

The New York metropolitan area is the most populous in the United States, as defined by both the Metropolitan Statistical Area (20.1 million residents in 2020) and the Combined Statistical Area (23.6 million residents in 2020). The metropolitan area is home to approximately 6% of the United States' population. It is the tenth largest urban agglomeration in the world. The New York metropolitan area continues to be the premier gateway for legal immigration to the United States, having the largest foreign-born population of any metropolitan region in the world. The MSA covers , while the CSA area is , encompassing an ethnically and geographically diverse region. The New York metropolitan area's population is larger than that of the state of New York, and the metropolitan airspace accommodated over 130 million passengers in 2016.

As the hub of multiple industries, including finance, health care, pharmaceuticals, and life sciences, international trade, publishing, real estate, education, fashion, entertainment, tourism, law, and manufacturing, the New York metropolitan area estimated to produce a gross metropolitan product (GMP) of $2.1 trillion as of 2022, representing the largest metropolitan economy worldwide; and if the New York metropolitan area were an independent sovereign state, it would constitute the eighth-largest economy in the world. It is the most prominent financial,
diplomatic, and media hub in the world.

According to '' Forbes'', in 2014, the New York metropolitan area was home to eight of the top ten ZIP codes in the United States by median housing price, with six in Manhattan alone. The New York metropolitan area also contains five of the top ten richest places in America, according to Bloomberg. These are Scarsdale, New York; Short Hills, New Jersey; Old Greenwich, Connecticut; Bronxville, New York; and Darien, Connecticut. The New York metropolitan region's higher education network comprises hundreds of colleges and universities, including New York University and three Ivy League universities: Columbia, Princeton, and Yale.

Definitions

Metropolitan statistical area

The counties and county groupings constituting the New York metropolitan area are listed below, with 2010 census figures:

The U.S. Office of Management and Budget utilizes two definitions of the area: the metropolitan statistical area (MSA) and the combined statistical area (CSA). The MSA definition is titled the ''New York-Newark-Jersey City, NY-NJ-PA Metropolitan Statistical Area'', and includes a population of 20.3 million people by 2017 Census estimates, roughly 1 in 16 Americans and nearly 7 million more than the second-place Los Angeles metropolitan area in the United States. The MSA is further subdivided into four metropolitan divisions. The 23-county MSA includes 10 counties in New York State (coextensive with the five boroughs of New York, the two remaining counties of Long Island, and three counties in the Lower Hudson Valley); 12 counties in Northern and Central New Jersey; and one county in northeastern Pennsylvania. The largest urbanized area in the United States is at the heart of the metropolitan area, the ''New York–Newark, NY–NJ–CT Urbanized Area'' (which had a land area of 3,450 square miles in 2010 according to the 2010 census). The New York state portion of the metropolitan area (the Five Boroughs, the lower Hudson Valley, and Long Island) accounts for over 65 percent of the state's population.

New York–Newark–Jersey City, NY–NJ–PA Metropolitan Statistical Area (19,043,386)
* New York–Jersey City–White Plains, NY–NJ Metropolitan Division (11,732,233)
**Kings County, NY ''(the borough of Brooklyn in NYC)''
** Queens County, NY ''(the borough of Queens in NYC)''
** New York County, NY ''(the borough of Manhattan in NYC)''
** Bronx County, NY ''(the borough of The Bronx in NYC)''
** Richmond County, NY ''(the borough of Staten Island in NYC)''
** Westchester County, NY
** Bergen County, NJ
** Hudson County, NJ
** Passaic County, NJ
** Putnam County, NY
** Rockland County, NY
* Nassau County–Suffolk County, NY Metropolitan Division (2,832,882)
** Suffolk County, NY
** Nassau County, NY
* New Brunswick-Lakewood, NJ Metropolitan Division (2,383,854)
** Middlesex County, NJ
** Monmouth County, NJ
** Ocean County, NJ
** Somerset County, NJ
* Newark, NJ–PA Metropolitan Division (2,174,944)
** Essex County, NJ
** Union County, NJ
** Morris County, NJ
** Sussex County, NJ
** Hunterdon County, NJ
** Pike County, PA

Combined statistical area

Combined statistical areas (CSAs) group together adjacent core-based statistical areas with a high degree of economic interconnection. The New York–Newark, NY–NJ–CT–PA Combined Statistical Area had an estimated population of 23.7 million as of 2014. About one out of every fifteen Americans resides in this region, which includes eight additional counties in New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, and Pennsylvania. This area, less the Pennsylvania portion, is often referred to as the ''tri-state area'' and less commonly the ''tri-state region''. The New York City television designated market area (DMA) includes Pike County, Pennsylvania, which is also included in the CSA.

In addition to the New York–Newark–Jersey City, NY–NJ–PA metropolitan statistical areas (MSA), the following core-based statistical areas are also included in the New York–Newark, NY–NJ–CT–PA CSA:
* Bridgeport–Stamford–Norwalk–Danbury, CT MSA (916,829)
** Fairfield County
* New Haven–Milford, CT MSA (862,477)
** New Haven County, Connecticut
* Trenton-Princeton, NJ MSA (396,811)
** Mercer County
* Torrington, CT micropolitan statistical area (189,927)
** Litchfield County
* Kingston, NY MSA (182,693)
** Ulster County
* East Stroudsburg, PA MSA (169,842)
** Monroe County, Pennsylvania
* Poughkeepsie–Newburgh–Middletown, NY MSA (670,301)
** Dutchess County
** Orange County, NY

Geography

The area is frequently divided into the following subregions:
* New York City (the primary urban center of the metropolitan region, comprising five boroughs, one of which is Manhattan, the geographical, cultural, and economic core of the entire metropolitan area)
* Central and eastern Long Island (Nassau and Suffolk Counties – separated by water from the rest of the region except New York City; not including Queens County or Kings County (Brooklyn), which are concurrent with two of New York's five boroughs)
* North Jersey (northern portion of New Jersey)
* Central Jersey (middle portion of New Jersey)
* Hudson Valley (Lower Hudson Valley suburbs of Westchester, Putnam, and Rockland Counties; and Mid-Hudson exurbs of Dutchess, Sullivan, Orange, and Ulster Counties)
* Western Connecticut (Only Fairfield, New Haven, and Litchfield Counties are part of the region and separated by the state line)
* Southern and Eastern Poconos ( Monroe and Pike Counties in Pennsylvania)

All eight subregions are often further subdivided. For instance, Long Island can be divided into its South and North Shores (usually when speaking about Nassau County and western Suffolk County) and the East End. The Hudson Valley and Connecticut are sometimes grouped together and referred to as the Northern Suburbs, largely because of the shared usage of the Metro-North Railroad system.

Subregions

New York City

The geographical, cultural, and economic center of the metropolitan area is New York City, the most populous city in the United States and has been described as the capital of the world. The city consists of five boroughs, each of which is coterminous with a county of New York State. The five boroughs – Brooklyn, Queens, Manhattan, the Bronx, and Staten Island – were consolidated into a single city in 1898. With a Census-estimated population of 8,550,405 in 2015 (8,491,079 in 2014), distributed over a land area of just , New York is the most densely populated major city in the United States.US-25S&-_lang=en ''County and City Data Book:2007'' (U.S. Census Bureau), Table B-1, Area and Population
, Retrieved July 12, 2008. A global power city, New York City exerts a significant impact upon commerce, finance, health care and life sciences, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and entertainment, its fast pace defining the term '' New York minute''. Home to the headquarters of the United Nations, New York is an important center for international diplomacy. New York is a global city and has been described as the cultural, financial, entertainment, and media capital of the world, as well as the world's most economically powerful city.

Long Island

Long Island, the most populous island in the United States, is located just off the northeast coast of the United States and is a region wholly included within both the U.S. state of New York and the New York metropolitan area. Extending 118 miles east-northeast of Roosevelt Island, Manhattan from New York Harbor into the Atlantic Ocean, the island comprises four counties: Kings and Queens (these form the New York boroughs of Brooklyn and Queens, respectively) to the west; then Nassau and Suffolk to the east. However, most people in the New York metropolitan area (even those living in Queens and Brooklyn) colloquially use the term "Long Island" (or "The Island") exclusively to refer to the Nassau-Suffolk county area collectively, which is mainly suburban in character. North of the island is Long Island Sound, across which are the U.S. states of Connecticut and Rhode Island.

With a population of 8,063,232 enumerated at the 2020 U.S. Census, constituting nearly 40% of New York State's population, the majority of New York City residents, 58.4% as of 2020, live on Long Island, namely the estimated 4,896,398 residents living in the New York City boroughs of Brooklyn and Queens.
Accessed July 21, 2017. Long Island is the List of islands by population, most populated island in any U.S. state or territory, and the 17th-most populous island in the world (ahead of Ireland, Jamaica, and Hokkaidō). Its population density is . If Long Island geographically constituted an independent metropolitan statistical area, it would rank fourth most populous in the United States; while if it were a U.S. state, Long Island would rank 13th in population and first in population density. Queens is the most ethnically diverse urban area in the world. The Town of Hempstead in Nassau County, with an estimated population of 770,367 in 2016, is the most populous municipality in the New York metropolitan area outside of New York City.

Long Island is also the 17th most populous island in the world, but is more prominently known for recreation, boating, and miles of public beaches, including numerous town, county, and state parks, as well as Fire Island National Seashore and wealthy and expensive coastal residential enclaves. Along the north shore, the Gold Coast of Long Island, featured in the film ''The Great Gatsby'', is an upscale section of Nassau and western Suffolk counties that once featured many lavish mansions built and inhabited by wealthy business tycoons in the earlier years of the 20th century, of which only a few remain preserved as historic sites. The East End of Long Island (known as the "Twin Forks" because of its physical shape) boasts open spaces for farmland and wineries. The South Fork, in particular, comprises numerous towns and villages known collectively as "The Hamptons" and has an international reputation as a "playground for the rich and famous", with some of the wealthiest communities in the United States. In 2015, according to ''Business Insider'', the 11962 zip code encompassing Sagaponack, within Southampton, was listed as the most expensive in the U.S. by real estate-listings site Property Shark, with a median home sale price of $5,125,000.
During the summer season, many celebrities and the wealthy visit or reside in mansions and waterfront homes, while others spend weekends enjoying the beaches, gardens, bars, restaurants, and nightclubs.

Long Island is served by a network of parkways and expressways, with the Long Island Expressway, Northern State Parkway, and Southern State Parkway being major east–west routes across significant portions of the island. Commuter rail access is provided by the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) Long Island Rail Road, one of the largest commuter railroads in the United States. Air travel needs are served by several airports. Within Queens, the island is home to John F. Kennedy International Airport and LaGuardia Airport, two of the three major airline hubs serving the New York area (with Newark Liberty International Airport being the third; all three major airports are operated by The Port Authority of New York & New Jersey). Long Island MacArthur Airport (serving commercial airlines) and Farmingdale/Republic Airport (private and commuter flights) are both located in Suffolk County.

Lower Hudson Valley

Known for its hilly terrain, picturesque settings, and quaint small towns and villages, the Lower Hudson Valley is centered around the Hudson River north of New York City and lies within New York State. Westchester and Putnam counties are located on the eastern side of the river, and Rockland and Orange counties are located on the western side of the river. Westchester and Rockland counties are connected by the heavily trafficked New Tappan Zee Bridge, as well as by the Bear Mountain Bridge near their northern ends. Several branches of the MTA Metro-North Railroad serve the region's rail commuters. Southern Westchester County contains more densely populated areas and includes the cities of Yonkers, Mount Vernon, New Rochelle, and White Plains. Although many of the suburban communities of Westchester are known for their affluence and expense (some examples: Bronxville, Scarsdale, Chappaqua, Armonk, Katonah, and Briarcliff Manor), the Lower Hudson Valley as a whole is one of the fastest-growing areas in the metropolitan area because of high housing costs in New York and the inner suburbs.

Historically, the valley was home to many factories, including paper mills, but a significant number have closed. After years of lingering pollution, cleanup efforts to improve the Hudson River water quality are currently planned and will be supervised by the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

Mid-Hudson Valley

The Mid-Hudson Valley region of the State of New York is midway between New York City and the state capital of Albany. The area includes the counties of Dutchess, Ulster, and Sullivan, as well as the northern portions of Orange County, with the region's main cities being Poughkeepsie, Newburgh, Kingston, and Beacon. The Walkway over the Hudson, is the second longest pedestrian footbridge in the world. It crosses the Hudson River connecting Poughkeepsie and Highland. The 13 mile-long Dutchess Rail Trail stretches from Hopewell Junction to the beginning of the Walkway over the Hudson in Poughkeepsie. The area is home to the Wappingers Central School District, which the second-largest school district in the state of New York. The Newburgh Waterfront in the City of Newburgh is home to many high-end restaurants.

U.S. Route 9, I-84, and the Taconic State Parkway all run through Dutchess County. Metro-North Railroad train station, New Hamburg, is located in the Town of Poughkeepsie and runs from Poughkeepsie to Grand Central Terminal in New York City.

Northern New Jersey

Northern New Jersey, also known colloquially as ''North Jersey'', is typically defined as comprising the following counties:
* Bergen County